iPad Addiction Hurts Infants’ Ability to Use Real Building Blocks

Small children may have difficulty understanding real space if they spend too much time in digital space. Recent findings show that with too many hours on iPad and digital devices, children can lose the ability to play with building blocks like their parents.

The news comes from the UK’s Association of Teachers and Lecturers, who advise parents to keep digital hours to a minimum, especially right before bed. Teacher Colin Kinney thinks that without restraint, the effect of having too much digital time can lead to poor development in children’s social as well as motor skills:

I have spoken to a number of nursery teachers who have concerns over the increasing numbers of young pupils who can swipe a screen but have little or no manipulative skills to play with building blocks or the like, or the pupils who cannot socialise with other pupils but whose parents talk proudly of their ability to use a tablet or smartphone.

Kinney thinks that the number of children who can use smartphones and computers with great skill will eclipse the number of students with hand and sensory skills, which will make their educational development difficult. He said, “It is our job to make sure that the technology is being used wisely and productively and that pupils are not making backward steps and getting obsessed and exhibiting aggressive and anti-social behaviours.”